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Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells / MICHAEL SPENCE

Swansea University Author: MICHAEL SPENCE

  • E-Thesis under embargo until: 18th July 2026

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.64013

Abstract

Perovskite silicon tandem cells integrate perovskite into established silicon photovoltaic manufacturing and can boost efficiencies beyond 30 %. These devices do not yet capitalise on two important advantages of perovskite cells – the ability to produce thin flexible devices and economical material...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2023
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Carnie, Matthew J. and Bryant, Christian H.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64013
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first_indexed 2023-08-01T12:52:18Z
last_indexed 2023-08-01T12:52:18Z
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spelling v2 64013 2023-08-01 Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells 7542612944b6ff1aa491dbbc754e8b26 MICHAEL SPENCE MICHAEL SPENCE true false 2023-08-01 Perovskite silicon tandem cells integrate perovskite into established silicon photovoltaic manufacturing and can boost efficiencies beyond 30 %. These devices do not yet capitalise on two important advantages of perovskite cells – the ability to produce thin flexible devices and economical material usage. So called ‘kerfless’ silicon wafering processes can be used to produce ultra-thin silicon wafers with very low material usage that can be used to make flexible silicon cells which make natural tandem partners for perovskites. In this thesis the design and processing of a flexible silicon-perovskite tandem cell are explored in detail.Silicon-perovskite tandems were developed on thick wafers using mainly solution processed, all low temperature (<130 °C) perovskite top cell manufacturing which can be applied to flexible structures. Parasitic optical losses in the perovskite top cell were reduced. It is demonstrated in NIP tandem cells that replacement of the spiro-OMeTAD layer with CuSCN or PTAA can improve the transmittance of the HTL significantly from 66 to 81 %. To address reflection losses resulting from the planar silicon bottom cell, flexible textured anti-reflective foils were developed which were shown to increase JSC in both silicon and perovskite sub-cells by 3 – 5 %.Flexible 10 μm thick silicon wafers were produced by the porous bilayer epitaxial lift-off method with optimisation carried out on the porous bilayer structure to enable successful lift-off. Creation of the junction, bulk and back surface field were all achieved through the bilayer and epitaxy processes with no further doping steps required. While time constraints prevented production of a functioning flexible silicon-perovskite tandem, the various processing aspects are explored in detail. A technique was developed to cleave the entire device from the growth substrate utilising a transparent, flexible adhesive electrode. A pathway towards realisation of flexible silicon-perovskite tandem cells is presented with these device structures showing great promise. E-Thesis Swansea, Wales, UK Perovskite, Photovoltaics, Solar, Flexible, Tandem, PV, Silicon 18 7 2023 2023-07-18 10.23889/SUthesis.64013 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Carnie, Matthew J. and Bryant, Christian H. Doctoral Ph.D EPSRC ICASE Award/ IQE Ltd. 2023-10-05T15:02:35.3109954 2023-08-01T13:49:26.6105981 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering MICHAEL SPENCE 1 Under embargo Under embargo 2023-08-01T13:52:57.0925438 Output 4192271 application/pdf E-Thesis true 2026-07-18T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: The Author, Michael Spence, 2023. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
title Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
spellingShingle Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
MICHAEL SPENCE
title_short Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
title_full Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
title_fullStr Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
title_full_unstemmed Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
title_sort Towards Ultra-Thin Flexible Silicon Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
author_id_str_mv 7542612944b6ff1aa491dbbc754e8b26
author_id_fullname_str_mv 7542612944b6ff1aa491dbbc754e8b26_***_MICHAEL SPENCE
author MICHAEL SPENCE
author2 MICHAEL SPENCE
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.64013
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Materials Science and Engineering
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Perovskite silicon tandem cells integrate perovskite into established silicon photovoltaic manufacturing and can boost efficiencies beyond 30 %. These devices do not yet capitalise on two important advantages of perovskite cells – the ability to produce thin flexible devices and economical material usage. So called ‘kerfless’ silicon wafering processes can be used to produce ultra-thin silicon wafers with very low material usage that can be used to make flexible silicon cells which make natural tandem partners for perovskites. In this thesis the design and processing of a flexible silicon-perovskite tandem cell are explored in detail.Silicon-perovskite tandems were developed on thick wafers using mainly solution processed, all low temperature (<130 °C) perovskite top cell manufacturing which can be applied to flexible structures. Parasitic optical losses in the perovskite top cell were reduced. It is demonstrated in NIP tandem cells that replacement of the spiro-OMeTAD layer with CuSCN or PTAA can improve the transmittance of the HTL significantly from 66 to 81 %. To address reflection losses resulting from the planar silicon bottom cell, flexible textured anti-reflective foils were developed which were shown to increase JSC in both silicon and perovskite sub-cells by 3 – 5 %.Flexible 10 μm thick silicon wafers were produced by the porous bilayer epitaxial lift-off method with optimisation carried out on the porous bilayer structure to enable successful lift-off. Creation of the junction, bulk and back surface field were all achieved through the bilayer and epitaxy processes with no further doping steps required. While time constraints prevented production of a functioning flexible silicon-perovskite tandem, the various processing aspects are explored in detail. A technique was developed to cleave the entire device from the growth substrate utilising a transparent, flexible adhesive electrode. A pathway towards realisation of flexible silicon-perovskite tandem cells is presented with these device structures showing great promise.
published_date 2023-07-18T15:02:36Z
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score 11.036706

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